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VILLA NUEVA - Slum dwellers armed with shotguns have taken to Guatemala's streets to hand vigilante justice to youth gangs as voters sick of crime increasingly back a hardline ex-general's run for President.
Roving bands of masked men communicating over walkie-talkies and armed with sticks, machetes and shotguns patrol the poor Villa Nueva slum on the edge of Guatemala City at night looking for members of infamous "Mara" gangs.
The well-organised patrols have killed at least one gang member this month.
"It's another war," said resident Sheni Godinez, 46, who had to borrow money to pay gang members US$650 ($912) for the right to live in Villa Nueva, home to 500,000 people, many of whom live in tin-roofed wooden houses.
The surge in violence in one of Latin America's most crime-ridden countries could help ex-General Otto Perez Molina win the presidency when he faces centre-leftist Alvaro Colom in the second round of the vote on November 4.
More than 30 bus drivers and their helpers have been killed in Guatemala since January for failing to pay extortion money.
- Reuters
